In mid-March 2023, Humans without Borders held its annual general meeting, attended by a large number of members. Items on the agenda were, among others, a review of last year’s activities, the addition of several trip coordinators, and HWB’s policy concerning financial support of medical assistance.
A discussion dealing with bereavement, occurring as a natural result of the fact that we assist families of seriously ill children, was postponed to the next meeting.
HWB has a team of trip coordinators, who are responsible for the entire transportation system, which involves more than 150 rides a week. The coordinators list all of the requests for rides, make sure each ride is covered and when no volunteer drivers available, they arrange for taxi services. They also inform each family who will drive them, when and where they will meet and provide assistance to volunteers as needed. Several new coordinators recently joined the team, but it is still understaffed and we are looking for additional volunteers. Some knowledge of Arabic is useful but not essential. In view of the deterioration of the state of medical care in the PA, the NGO feels that there is no choice but to provide financial assistance to families we asssist in procuring medical care. A medical committee was established whose main role is to liaise with the medical staff in the different hospitals and to determine whether to provide financial assistance in any given case and the amount of such assistance. In 2022 about 5,500 trips were made. Although the number of volunteers increased, 30 very active volunteers perform 85% of the transportation. The financial report and other required documents were approved by the meeting.